Rose Breeder  

Listing last updated on Sun Nov 2024

Bunyip, Victoria
Australia

1967 Australian Rose Annual
p58 George Dawson, Ferntree Gully, Victoria. The Fascination of Hybridizing.
It is often said that life begins at forty; to me life begins when you start hybridizing roses. I am forever wishing my time away for when I see the first promising flower on a seedling. I look forward to the next season to observe it on a budded stock, and so it goes on. Hybridizing roses for me is both a hobby and a challenge and gives me wonderful pleasure.....
One interesting aspect I have found is that each time I have deliberately gone after perfume I have got it....
I plant about eight thousand seeds each year and with the constant digging out of the seedlings which do not show any promise I have about two hundred different seedlings in my garden.....

1968 Australian Rose Annual.
p30 Mr. Pat Dickson, Northern Ireland. ....It has been my great joy to spend a few hours with your Mr. George Dawson, of Ferntree Gully, Victoria, and when I see what he is doing as an amateur and to see how happy he is, this is ample proof that once you have been bitten by this bug you just cannot give it up. I feel reasonably certain that some of his seedlings will give him world recognition soon and he certainly deserves it. He is living one of the happiest lives I know.

1968 Australian Rose Annual.
p140 George Dawson, Ferntree Gully, Victoria. A Comparison (between ‘Super Star’ and ‘El Capitan’).

1968 Australian Rose Annual.
p156. Dr. A. S. Thomas. ‘Immaculate’ ......is one of seven creations by Mr. George Dawson of Ferntree Gully, Victoria, that I am growing. They are all well up to any international standard. The others are not named yet and none of them will be on sale for at least a couple of years. Mr. Patrick Dickson was very impressed with them and is growing them now in N. Ireland with the probability of distributing them to the many trial grounds of Britain and Europe.

1968. The Rose Annual
p127. Frank Bowen. The next morning Ted Phillips called to take Pat and me to see the products of an amateur hybridist, George Dawson. Appreciating how difficult it is nowadays for amateurs to achieve outstanding success in this field, we did wonder when starting out what was in store. In fact this visit proved most absorbing, for it was soon apparent that Mr. Dawson’s hybridising was no haphazard affair, that he had studied the subject in depth and had set himself a very high standard. How many other amateurs are there in the world today who have produced, virtually single-handed, and can show, as Mr. Dawson did, nearly an acre full of cultivars of his own raising, all good – some outstandingly so – and with quite superb fragrance.

1969 Australian Rose Annual.
p80. George Dawson. The Hybridists’s Incentive ....The next season cannot come round quickly enough for me ....

1970 Australian Rose Annual
p57 George Dawson, Ferntree Gully, Victoria. Roses by Cuttings.

1971 Australian Rose Annual
p120 George Dawson, Ferntree Gully, Victoria. Trial Grounds in Australia - A necessity.
.....There is little doubt that I shall be a hybridist as long as I exist as each day the hobby becomes more fascinating. I am assured of a life of interest and pleasure to the end of my days. This pleasure would be greatly impaired if one of my creations failed the public after being distributed. For me to judge my own creations is much the same as a mother judging her own offspring! There is not the slightest doubt that I see much in them that others cannot, therefore it is essential that new roses of Australian origin be given the opportunity to prove themselves under sterner circumstances. Let’s have a trial ground.

1992 Australian Rose Annual
p148. Ron Bell article: “Vale George Dawson”. Last September saw the passing of probably Australia’s most prolific rose breeder, the late George Dawson of Bunyip Victoria. Before turning to rose breeding as a retirement hobby, George was a market gardener at Ferntree Gully and commenced breeding roses there before moving to Bunyip in the West Gippsland area where he continued his work. At his peak he planted 20,000 seeds a season and produced many fine roses, his main objectives being colour and perfume but he also raised some well formed roses in his programmes. At his garden of 4 acres at Bunyip there were long beds of at least 100 metres containing well grown seedlings covered in colourful blooms and with strong healthy growth. They were indistinguishable from imported roses and a high percentage of them had perfume. The amazing thing was that George did all the work in his garden without assistance. It is difficult to compare his efforts with those of the late Alister Clark who had at one time about a dozen helpers at his property but he had an extraordinary ability to handle tools and turn the soil. No doubt his experience as a market gardener stood him in good stead and gave the necessary background for his later work. It is a great pity that more of his roses were not introduced to the public but he seemed reluctant to promote his seedlings and preferred to rely on others to do so. In his later years he was plagued by ill health and although virtually crippled by a series of hip operations he still managed to move around in the garden using his tools and a barrow as support. He was a very determined character and often refused offers of help. It would be something of a disaster if the roses he produced were to be ploughed in to the property and lost but hopefully the new owner may retain them..... He was always willing to help newcomers and he donated much of his royalties and assisted the Rose Society of Victoria with a fund.

1995 Australian Rose Annual
p67 Philip Sutherland article on “Australian Raised Roses”. .......George Dawson was one who had a great preference for modern hybrid teas or large flowered roses. He particularly sought perfume, an admirable trait in any rose. Colour was also of great importance to him and he regularly produced roses of strong colour.... For a rose to exist in merely one locality is to flirt with extinction, for floods and fires and droughts happen with some regularity on our shores. Losing a George Dawson rose is the cultural equivalent of losing a Hans Heysen painting. And unlike a Hans Heysen, where all but the very lucky must make do with replicas, everyone can share an original Dawson. Thankfully, George Dawson’s son Allan is taking an active interest in the preservation of his father’s roses..... It is pleasing to know that almost one hundred of his roses may be saved for posterity. With the recent increase of interest in the showing of Australian roses, we might see them back on the bench as well as back in the gardens where they belong.

1999 Peter Cox Australian Roses
p 18. George Dawson, Victoria. He was born in Norwich, England in 1904, arrived in Australia 1928 and died in 1991. He first worked with budding roses in England before emigrating at the age of 24. He lived most of his life in Ferntree Gully, Victoria and married Ethel in 1931. In 1966 he retired from his market garden and took up rose breeding [*], his main objectives being size, colour and fragrance. At his peak he was producing thousands of seedlings each year, and growing on the most promising in raised field beds which provided good drainage. After having both his hips replaced, he named “Rae Dungan” after the surgeon. He later moved to Bunyip, where he built a large shed to house his younger seedlings..... His other interests included fishing and hunting.
[*Note - at the age of 62]

[From World Rose News, February 2018, p. 36:] George Dawson was born and first worked budding roses in England before immigrating to Australia in 1928 at the age of 24. George set up a market garden at Ferntree Gulley and carried out some breeding in conjunction with his livelihood. In 1966 he retired from market gardening and moved to Bunyip at the age of 62 and took up breeding roses seriously. At his peak he planted 20,000 seeds a season and produced many fine roses, his main objective being colour and perfume but he also raised a number of roses with good form.




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